Rosie's Attitude
by raven351
Summary: Rosie has been having an attitude for weeks! Zoe and Wade are at their wits end and plan to get to the bottom of things! OOC * has spanking, don't like don't read
1. Chapter 1

Hello! This is my first written out fic but I've been reading them for years.

Disclaimer: I have no rights to the show Hart of Dixie, just borrowing their characters.

Rose is 12 years old and her parents have died in an accident. Zoe and Wade are together and are taking care of Rose.

Enjoy! :)

Rose had been in a foul mood for days. She knew Zoe didn't understand her, hell she barely understood herself. Her parents anniversary of their death was just 3 weeks ago, it was a lot harder than Rose thought it would be. She did okay for the weeks leading up to it and the the week following, but now Rose was just in a bad mood that she couldn't just shake, she knew she was being unreasonable but it was like an out of body experience, she couldn't control it. Zoe was trying to be understanding and that just made her more mad. Any time Wade started on her, Zoe interfered and stopped him. Rose really just wanted to be able to get it all off her chest and yell at them but kept trying to repress herself.

"Rosie! Sweetie! Time to come down for breakfast, you need to leave for school in less than 10 minutes!" Zoe yelled up the stairs to her finally refurbished home on the Mayors property.

"Damn no need to yell" she mumbled as she came down the stairs.

Unfortunately it wasn't as quiet as she thought and Wade her, "Watch it young lady, you're already on thin ice as it is with all the attitude and backtalk the past few weeks."

" No Wade, stop, she's been having a hard time, its okay."

"Zo, no its not okay for her to be so disrespectful all the time, she needs some discipline. With the way she's acting if this was me i would've gotten belted or at the very least grounded."

"Belted! You're not belting our kid!"

Rose was getting angrier by the moment. She had parents, even if they had died in that accident during that hurricane. She stalked to the door as Wade and Zoe were talking about her as if she was a child, she was 12 for god sakes! Not a 6 year old!

Rose opened the door, turned around to face them in the freshly painted foyer and shrieked " I am NOT your kid, so you can keep your discipline to yourselves!" and with that she slammed the door and made her way to school.

Zoe couldn't help but feel a little stung by her words, Rose may not think of her as her mom, but she was definitely her kid. She couldn't help it after the past year helping her grieve and mourn and come back out of her shell. Wade was by her side the whole time picking up the pieces when she didn't know how to.

"Come on Doc, now don't get to upset. She was already in a bad mood just looking to lash out and knows you wont come down hard on her. But Im telling you this attitude of her stops today. She's looking for an attitude adjustment."

"Wade we are NOT going to beat her! i just said this! i can count on one hand how many times i have been just swatted on the butt and that was for something dangerous when i was little, not 12"

"I would never beat her! Just a spanking, i wouldn't use a belt either its more just an expression. I had the belt a few times and never plan on using it on our kids by the way. She just needs to smarten up. This is the south, we do spank here, its not anything that would be new to her. She's probably been waiting for us to discipline her. We've sent her to bed early one time and grounded her for that day. She may feel like we're not serious about her being with us because we've never reprimanded her for anything. Its time to put our big kid pants on and really get to raising this little girl."

" You're right, you're right. I cannot wait to have some more kids with you Wade Kinsella. But there are other options than just spanking her... just saying."

Meanwhile at school, Rose was talking to Magnolia and Frederick Dean about her Zoe and Wade problems. Magnolia and Frederick Dean were like the devil and angel on her shoulders respectively, she tended to go with what Frederick Dean said because she was a rational girl and did not like to get in trouble, but today was different.

"Ugh that sounds worse than Lemon lately. She has been on me about my grades lately and to stop being so boy crazy. i just want to go out and have some fun! "

"But what can we do?" Frederick Dean asked.

" I know! I know some Freshman on the JV football team who can get us some beer! Its Friday and they're having a party in the woods after school!"

" I don't know about this..."

Rose contemplated for a moment and decided she was going to do it, she never would've done it if her real parents had been alive because she knew how much trouble her butt would be in. She also knew Zoe and Wade would not be happy, but they didn't get on to her too much, she was hoping that they would learn to love her as a daughter but didn't see that coming anytime soon, so she decided to throw caution to the wind and go for it.

"I'm definitely in. But i think i will steal some clothes from Zoe 's closet before we go there."

'This can only go bad', Frederick Dean thought to himself. "Dont count me in."

After school, Rose went home to steal a sparkly black skirt and tight tank top from Zoe's closet, Rose had an inch on her petite surrogate mother so the already short skirts were just that much shorter and she only had 20 minutes to get the stuff and meet Magnolia before going to the woods behind the Rammer Jammer. She had to be careful that no one saw them.

Luck was not on her side as Zoe walked in. She caught Rose trying to leave with a guilty look on her face.

"Wait little miss, I wanted to speak with you about your behavior lately. Its not okay to talk to me or Wade like the way you have been. We're not door mats and we love you. We're doing everything in our power to give you a good home. And to have you be so disrespectful to us is like a slap in the face, Sweetie, i love you so much i changed my whole life around to take care of you and the way you've been acting is not very grateful, Talk to me, what can i do?"

"Yeah well no one asked you too" And with that Rose slammed the door and ran away from her home to her friends again.

When she got near the Rammer Jammer, Rose slowed down. She had to be careful about this so she didn't get caught. She saw Magnolia who helped her change behind a bush. However, neither girl saw George Tucker who was walking into the Rammer Jammer. He saw the girls go behind the bush then come out with some _mature_ looking clothes then head towards the trail behind the beloved bar.

He went in to the bar then and asked Wade where Rose was going so dressed up in the woods. Flashbacks to Wades high school days came screaming to the front of his mind. 'Not my kid.' he thought . As he was about to leave the bar, Zoe came in looking morose.

"What happened, Doc?"

" Oh Rose again, she yelled at me and stormed off again" Zoe regaled what had transpired between the two. " But where are you off to now?"

"Rose is in the woods in what appears to be your clothes with Magnolia , I'm about to break up whatever little party she is at. George can you call Lemon? Thanks"

"Ooooh that little girl! what has gotten into her lately! I'm starting to get mad at her outright defiance! i have always been in her corner!" Zoey exclaimed as she walked through the barely their trail in her shorts and heels smacking at all the mosquitos. But then fretted " But i do hope shes not doing anything dangerous."

"Dont worry Zo, we will find her and help her get back on path after these stunts today."

They walk fo a few more miniutes in silence, each running scenarios of every parents nightmares in there heads, wondering how the chips will fall when they arrive.

They finally start to hear some rambunctious kids. They already sound like they were drunk and its not even 4pm! The kids finally come into view.

Rose is drinking from a blue solo cup and dancing on the back of someones tailgate as flirty as a naive 12 year old girl can to some country music.

Wade just stares, the hurt and anger apparent in his eyes, his mouth open to a perfect 'O'. Zoe finds her maternal voice at this time.

"Rose Hattenbarger you get down from that truck this instant!"

Startled, Rose tipsily loses her balance but one of the freshman catch her in his arms. "Dont worry, you dont have to go with them you can stay with us."

Wade does not like that way that little boy has his hands on HIS little girl. As hes making his way over to the pair the young boy sets Rose on her feet. Wade makes to grab her arm and she pulls it back.

"No! Im not leaving and Bobby says i can stay with him. I'm having fun!"

Wade leans down and whispers in to Rose's ear, "Little girl do not test me. You want to see how this plays out in front of your friends or do this at home?"

She bows her head and Wade thinks he has gotten through to his little troublemaker, but he should've held her hand to lead her back to Zoe. Rose digs her heels in to the ground to muster up as much teenage angst as she possibly can to say what she's going to say to her guardians.

" You can go home, or frankly go to Hell, i dont care. I am staying with my friends. You are not my parents so quit pretending as if you were!"

Zoe's last shred of patience was lost when she told them go to hell. In the time it takes Rose to finish her rebellious speech, Zoe has made it to Rose's side.

"No. Im done with this now." Zoe grabs Rose's left arm with her left hand to pull her forward a bit and gives two swats to her backside that probably embarass her more than actually hurt her if truth be told. " Rosie we are leaving NOW. Now quit fighting or you can get a real spanking here. The choice is yours."

" I'll come, i'll be good." she meekly replied. As they turn to leave, Lemon is standing in the clearing looking for Magnolia.

"I believe i just saw her try to hide on the other side of that truck. And would you please call some patients, we just need to deal with this now."

"Of course. And thank you for giving me the heads up. I will make some calls then deal with my little trouble maker. She may even be able to sit tomorrow if she acts perfectly contrite..."

As they ventured back to the Rammer Jammer, Rose's pout became more pronounced. When she was told to get in the back of the car, she huffed and earned her bottom another spank. Fury flashed in her eyed, but she complied and got in the back seat. She was afraid of the townspeople seeing her getting into trouble. She didnt want to end up in one of Dash's stories.

When they pulled up in front of their home, she rushed out of the care and into the house to start running up the stairs to her room. Her guardians came quickly in behind her.

"Rosie! Get down here now!"

Their answer was a slammed door.

Zoe made her way to go up the stairs, but Wade pulled her back.

"We need a plan before go up there. I think we should hear her out, but i think her attitude, stealing, lying, sneaking and drinking has earned her a spanking, no matter the reason. What do you think?"

"I'm not sure. We need some ground rules. If you're going to spank her, you can't bare her or use anything but your hand, okay? I'm still uneasy about this but i think you're right. I never did anything like this, and this is more your forte, but i think there needs to be more consequences. Grounded for the next week with an early bedtime and some extra chores maybe?"

"I think that can be arranged. Lets go talk to out little girl."

They made there way up the stairs to Rosie's room. She was lying face down facing the wall.

"Wow no knock or anything? Whatever. I know, early bedtime grounded for the night. Great. You can leave now."

Zoe smacked her bottom again but this time with a little more force.

"Ow!"

"If you dont knock that attitude off right now, we can also wash your mouth out with soap. Care to continue your defiance little miss?"

"No sir."

"Sweetie, Rosie, please tell me whats been going on in with you. You have not been yourself lately. You have had a very bad attitude and mouth on you the past week and a half, rolling your eyes at me, your teacchers called today to say you havent been passing in any of your homework, now this stunt? Can you pleasae tell us why?" Zoe was desperate for an answer.

"Because I felt like it. Happy now?"

Wade swung her desk chair around from her desk, gotten his leg on the chair, and had pulled Rose off the bed and over his knee before she knew it.

She was wearing a flippy little skirt that Zoe had worn out to clubs in New York, it fell up as she was pulled over Wades knee, her day of the week underwear on display. He spanked her upturned bottom 5 times then each sit spot once.

*SPANK* *SPANK* OW!

*SPANK* SPANK* No! No! Ill stop the attitude please!

*SPANK* OW!

"Are you going to be a good girl?" Wade, he a personified a cool and calm persona.

"Yesssss" She cried.

Wade then finished her attitude adjustment with a swat to each sit spot before placing her sitting on the bed.

Zoey was trying to stay as calm as Wade but was finding it difficult. She took a deep breath. "Care to answer my question now?"

"Yes, ma'am" she sniffled. Rose sat there for a moment collecting her thoughts. Zoe sat beside her and put her arm around here to rub her shoulder and help calm her down.

"I'm sorry i've been this way. I guess its because i miss my parents.. There anniversary came, and i was sad, but was still able to have a good time with you and forget about them a little bit. And now when something at school happens, I want to come home to tell you guys, and then realize later on that I shouldve wanted to tell my mom and dad but i thought I only thought of you guys. Thery're not coming back. I know that. But they were my mom and dad but now I have you guys and I dont know what to feel. They were the best mom and dad to me but I feel like you guys are starting to replace them. And when I've been bad you dont really punish me. So I thought maybe you thought I was too much work and didnt want to deal with me. I know I've been stupid." The 12 year old articulated that the best she could.

"Oh sweetheart, they're your parents and you will always love them so much, no one could replace them. But that doesnt mean there isnt room in your heart to let more people in. Love knows no bound, its infinite in its power. You can love as many people as you want. If you want to see us as parents too one day, we would love that but we would also know that you have another mom and dad. There's nothing stupid about how you feel. I just wish you had spoken to us about how you feel instead of acting out this way." Zoe's calm facade was starting to crack, she was getting emotional now knowing the turmoil her baby had been in.

Wade crouched down on the ground and grabbed her chin, her eyes were downcast asn she was trying to hold back tears. " look at me" he said gently. "We are not always going to get this right, but know that we will always try to do what we think is best for you, baby. You are our kid. I know you said earlier you weren't, but in our hearts you are ours. We are here for you. And we are sorry if we have failed you by lettingk things slide and not correcting some of your mistakes. We wont do that again. Can you forgive us?" By the end, his voice was starting to get husky.

"i'm really really sorry. Please dont hate me, i didnt mean to be so mean" With that she started crying again.

Wade pulled her chin back up and softly commanded her to look at him again, "Hey, hey none of that. There is nothing you could do that we would make us hate you. You're our girl. But you were tryign to be mean. Which brings us back to why we are originally up here. To discuss your consequences.

Now tell us honestly, what do you think your mother and father would do if this is the way you had been behaving? hmm?"

Rose tried to compose herself, but her chink was still quivering. " It depends. Mama might use her hair brush or wooden spoon to spank me or Daddy would just use his hand but make me sit on a hard stool in the corner. Then with all the other things i did wrong i might get grounded too."

Zoe was in awe of her honesty. She thought Rose would just say grounding, Wade must've known and that's why he told her to be honest about. At least her girl did one thing right by telling the truth today!

"Why dont you take a shower and get ready for bed. Then come to our room to discuss your punishment."

Rose nodded and did as was told.

Wade and Zoe made it into their room. Zoe finally lost her resolve an started to cry about it all. It had been a stressful week and a very long and bad day. It was only 7pm but she thought after they dealt with their little one, she may go to bed early herself.

Wade comforted her for a few more minutes. When she finally regained her composure is when Wade decided to talk to her.

"Zo, you know I love Rosie as much as i would my own. And would do nothing to hurt her. Are we still on the same page?"

"How much worse is it going to be than that attitude adjustment you gave her?"

"Maybe a few more swats to her butt, not much worse."

"Okay, but maybe we can just ground her for the weekend instead of a week. She just wont be allowed to go to any parties for awhile as she has lost our trust and she's too young for anything like what happened today anyways."

"Sounds good, Doc." Kissing her on the forehead.

After a few more minutes of comforting each other from whatg already happened and what was about to happen, Rose quietly knocked on their door which was slightly ajar.

"Come in Rosie" Zoe said. Rose felt like she was walking to her death sentence.

Rose went in to the room with her head bowed, hands not quite folded together, picking at her cuticles.

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself? What do you think should happen after events like today? We love you, but you lost our trust for awhile and were very hurt by your actions." Her surrogate mother asked matter of factly.

Rose couldnt help the few tears that escaped her eyes and felt wamred when Zoe reached over to gently wipe them away. You guys should spank me with Zoe's bath brush and make me sit in the corner and ground me for a month. Ive never acted so bad before. Mom and Dad would be disappointed in me. Im really sorry Zoe and Wade!" she cried.

"Dont worry baby, we forgive you, it will be a clean slate. But we are going to have to work on mending that trust now wont we?" Wade questioned. She nodded her head. "We decided that you will get a spanking and will be grounded for 3 days with an early bedtime. Sound fair to you?"

"Yes, sir."

"Anything else to say?" No sir"

"Okay then Rosie, come over to me."

Rose walked to her doom. She went to Wade's right side, he helped guide her over his lap. her face in Zoe's lap. He lifted the hem of her night gown and took a deep breath. He decided there was no need to lecture as they had talked about it for hours and she knew why she was getting spanked. With that thought, he bagn to spank. Alternating cheeks, but focusing on her lower bottom.

*SPANK*

*SPANK*

*SPANK*

*SPANK*

*SPANK*

*SPANK*

Then Wade decided the last 4 on her bottom should smart more so he increased his tempo and heaviness of his hand.

*SPANK* *SPANK* *SPANK* *SPANK*

Rose was crying so hard even with Zoe rubbing her head.

Wade steeled himself for the last four which he knew were going to be the worst,

"Okay baby, almost there." He tipped her forward and Rose got hysterical trying to cover her bottom with her hands. Wade collected them in one hand and finished the job.

*SPANK* *SPANK* *SPANK* *SPANK* with her legs kicking up and down.

It took Rose a moment to realize this was done. When she did realize she crawled into Zoe's lap facing her with her legs and arms wrapped around crying.

"I'm sorry...I'll be a good girl...i want to stay with you" she cried brokenly.

Zoe got her to calm a little. Wade stared at his girls mortified, questioning himself if he had gone to far. Zoe looked up and saw how heartbroken he looked.

"Sweetie there, there. youre punished and forgiven. You want give Wade a hug?"

"yesssss" the contrite little girl replied.

Zoey helped pass her over to the doting unrecognized father.

Rosie started her apologies to him, but he just told her how much he loved her and how he forgave her.

Wade asked his little Rosie if she wanted to sleep with him and Zoe, she nodded yes shyly. So Wade and Rose layed back as Zoe watched for a moment before gettinjg ready for bed.

She looked at them and knew this was a turning point. Nothing in life was perfect, but it was pretty damn near in her eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Things had been going well in the Hart/Kinsella household for the past few months after Rosie's small bout of rebellion. They had a very good daily routine. They were becoming a stronger family unit every day. Rose was more accepting of Zoe and Wade being more parental, there was also the occasional sad day but Rose was glad that she had such caring guardians to help her on the days she really missed her parents. Past an occasional swat and going to bed early once, Rose had been an angel.

Rose joined her school newspaper, the Bluebell Extra and had started shadowing Dash around. Rose was a great writer and loved to do so, so she was a little peeved it only came out on Fridays at the end of the school day. Rosie has been so into her sleuthing for stories, that her grades were starting to slip. Zoe had noticed.

Zoe saw Rose's school bag on the kitchen island and decided to do a little investigating herself. She pulled out a few folders and notebooks and some loose sheets. After glancing through them, she yelled up the stairs for Rose to come down for breakfast.

"Sweetheart, is history getting harder? You normally get A's on your tests, but this one was a B-. And your math test was a C+. Did you give yourself enough time to study?"

Rosie thought to herself 'Well if by study you mean glance at the study guide between classes right before the tests, then yes.' but instead replied with " Zoooooe. Of course i studied. It must've been just some hard material. No big deal, I will still get honor roll."

"No Rose. This is a big deal. Don't just settle for lower grades because you will still make honor roll, aim for more. If you want to get into a good college, you need to apply yourself more. I'm not kidding so don't roll your eyes at me little miss. Are you doing all your homework?"

"Yesssss..."

"Enough with the attitude. If i call your school will they report back saying you have turned every assignment in on time?"

"Well there may have been one or two i forgot about... and one i turned in 2 days late so i got a reduced grade..."

Zoe pinched her nose and sighed. "Really Rose? Why would you lie about this? What is going on kid? Is your newspaper getting in the way? You seem to be getting all your news stories in on time."

" No Zo, its not getting in the way I promise! I love it so much!"

"Rosie, you are prioritizing your school work over your extracurriculars correct?"

"Jeez Zo, of course i am! What's with the 3rd degree!?"

"Okay if you are prioritizing it, then let me see your science experiment and what you have wrote for a report. You never told me about it."

"Stop looking through my backpack! It's private!"

"Rose! Are you kidding me!? Don't tell me you haven't done it yet! It's due today! What were you going to do when I found out about this?"

"I don't know! Please don't make me quit the newspaper, I love it."

"Maybe you should quit. Between the lying and the slipping grades - its not looking good. And the attitude the past couple of days- you're on thin ice, so think before you speak." Zoe remarked seeing Rose gearing up to continue to defend herself. " You're going to need to tell Wade about this."

" No- "

"Tell me what? "

"Its not a big deal, Zoe is just making mountains out of mole hills again. Well gotta go! Bye!" She tried going towards the back door. Wade grabbed onto the back of her shirt to help pull her back in and gave her a mild swat to the seat of her pants. Rose let out a quiet "ow" and her cheeks reddened slightly.

"Nice try, but enough. Obviously its bad if you're trying to pull this crap. Spill."

"I just forgot to do a little homework. It's really not a big deal. But I'm going to be late if i don't leave now. sooooo..."

"Rose- don't lie." Zoe said sternly.

"Zooooo..."

"Just let her go Zoe. Rose you get your butt here straight after school, no detours and we are going to sit here and talk about what's going on. You understand me?"

"Yes, sir."

Wade kissed her on the head and gave her a one armed hug. "Love ya, kid. Don't get into anymore trouble today. Ya hear me?"

Rolling her eyes, she responded with a "Yessss. Love you too. Bye Zoe, love you. "

"Love you too, sweetie. Be good today."

As soon as Rose left. Wade got all the details from Zoe.

"Dang that kid. How are we going to fix this?" Wade signed, rubbing his face with his right hand.

"I don't know. I guess we will see how it goes today. And try to be rational. But I'm finding it hard to be rational with the attitude and the lies she's been telling. She hasn't done any of her chores this week because of the newspaper. Its taking her over! Ugh! What do we do Wade? I have half a mind to make her quit that newspaper!"

"Now now Zoe. Calm down. We can't make her quit, but we can do somethin' to make her start actin' right again. You know? Like prioritize or something you always tell me to do?"

"You're right. We can get her on track. Teach her to prioritize and set restrictions. You're right baby."

"But her attitude and lying needs to stop. If she keeps it up, we may have to give her a real attitude adjustment."

"Oh Wade, I don't want to give her a spanking for her attitude. You know I'm not a fan of them."

"Doc, we will just see how it goes. I'll call her teacher later to see what we can do about this project, like if she can bring it to her on Monday or something."

"Yeah, okay Wade. Love you see you tonight!"

The whole day, Zoe had to talk herself down and remind herself that these things happening weren't the end of the world and that Rose was doing normal teen things. Rose would get back on track after this small stumble. No worries. Or so she told herself. She walked into their home at the end of her day around 510 pm and heard the tail end of Wade yelling.

"-now i said get to your room, little girl and don't make me repeat myself again! Go!" Wade said very sternly to Rose with a swat to her backside.

As Rose got on the first stair to head upstairs, she saw Zoe coming in and changed directions.

"Zoe, Wade is being unfair! He won't listen to me!" Rose cried.

"Rose, I just got home. Let me talk to Wade and then we will come talk to you. But i think I heard him tell you to go to your room and say you weren't listening. Now get up there before you get another spank. Okay? I love you and we will be up there shortly. Change out of your school clothes and put something comfy on, okay sweet heart?" Zoe replied with a kiss to her forehead. Zoe wanted to tell her that Wade was being fair, but she didn't know what transpired between the two before she walked in. She didn't want Rose to get more emotional and cause her to act out more and get in more trouble than she probably was already in. So she went to the kitchen to talk to the source of all the teenage upset. When she entered, she saw Wade leaning over with his head on his hands on the kitchen island taking some deep breaths.

" Hey babe, rough afternoon?"

" You could say that," he replied not moving from his position.

"Well... what happened?" Zoe asked when it didn't seem as though he would elaborate.

" Well i called her teacher to ask about her grades and see if she could turn her paper in on Monday, even if she had to take some points off or whatever. But apparently Rose already had asked for an extension on her report and gave it to her..."

" Oh i am so glad she seems to be showing initiative and trying to right her wrong!"

"Zoe... she told her teacher that someone had passed away this week and it reminded her of her parents and she was having a tough time dealing."

"What! Who died?!"

"No one babe... but she told the teacher that...someone did die."

"Who?... Who Wade Kinsella?"

"Candace..."

"What?! Are you kidding me? I'm going to kill that girl!" Zoe took a few deep breaths. "What else did she say?"

"She said that Candace was like a grandma to her and passing away suddenly just reminded her too much if her parents. So the teacher let her report slide and said to bring it in whenever she can next week but also let me know that she hasn't done well on the last 2 science quizzes and didn't hand in her home work assignment last week. And the teacher asked me to pass along her condolences to you. I just blanked. I didn't know how to correct her in the moment. I said thanks and we hung up."

"Oh god. What do we do now?"

"Well we're not finished talking about what she did wrong today."

"What more could she have possibly done?"

"She just got home no more than 5 minutes before you walked through the door."

"What in the world is going on with this girl? Where was she?"

"i don't know. Hangin' with friends she said."

Zoe and Wade sat down to calm down a little before going upstairs to their little troublemaker. They talked a little about how to talk and punish her. They talked about her homework and about how she was doing in science alone, who knows about the rest of her classes! After about 25 minutes, they figured they were as calm and fair as they were going to get so they trudged up the stairs to do their least favorite thing about parenting.

Rose heard them finally making their way up. She felt as though every time they took a step, her hear beat at least 20 beats. The anticipation was making her nervous and that was probably going to manifest with her being insolent. Rose sent a silent prayer that she could get through this without what _they_ considered an attitude and without a spanking.

She heard them knock on her door, and was surprised when she heard herself reply a "come in" to them. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, looking down with her hands in her lap. The 12 year old looked all of 8 years old. She was wearing some pink ankle cuffed jogger pants and a big Rammer Jammer t-shirt and mismatched socks. Zoe and Wade looked solemn to the girl.

Zoe took a big breath and started. " Let me start out by saying that we are very disappointed in you, young lady. And frankly I am hurt that you would blame your not even started project on my mother and tell your teacher she was dead! Why would you say something like that? What happens when my mother comes to visit and everyone in town thinks she's dead because of your lie?" Rose's eyes started to water, she wasn't going to last long without crying. Rose tried to steel herself. "What do you have to say for yourself? What in the world made you think that everything leading up to this point was the right way to do things?"

"I don't know..."

"That's not an answer little girl. The truth. Now try again." Wade told her firmly. He was no nonsense in this moment.

"I just said I don't know!"

"Rose- the attitude. Enough. You are already in a pretty bad spot here."

Zoe tried to redirect the conversation so Rose wouldn't have a chance to have a sassy retort. "Why would you tell your teacher that lie? How much homework is really missing? If you're having trouble in school, how come you didn't ask for help?"

"You expect me to answer three different questions at once? What am I? A wizard?"

"Rose-"

"Rose, this is your last warning. Cut the crap and answer the questions." Wade's patience with her attitude was barely hanging on by a thread. He reflected on the irony; he always has a smart ass answer but cannot handle it when his girl had a smart aleck response.

"Look, i just don't know why it matters that much. I got the time from the teacher to finish the report. And since i got the time without help from you, that means i don't need to ask for help. And its none of your business if any of my homework is missing, emphasis on the MY. I'm basically grown." Rose was trying to pull off an adult indifferent attitude and look at the nails on her left hand. But Zoe could see right through the facade, she could see her quivering on the inside, she finally acknowledged what Wade knew all along, that Rose needed to be knocked down a peg or two.

Wade stared at the preteen in disbelief. How could she talk to them like that? He collected himself, and looked at Zoe to see what she thought of it. Zoe caught his eye and gave a small nod. She didn't look happy. But Wade knew what needed to be done.

In much the same way as last time, he grabbed Rose's left arm and pulled her up from the bed and simultaneously sat down on the edge of her bed. Rose grasped what was going on as he tried to lead her over his lap. She tried to squirm away.

"Stop! No! I don't want too!" Rose tearfully screamed.

"Stop hollering at me. You're being very disrespectful to us and you were warned" Wade got her over his lap and started to spank her. He spanked her bottom 6 times, alternating each side, then he righted her and switched spots again with her.

Zoe leant down to Rose's level barely giving her time to sit right, arched her brow and grabbed a hold of her girls quivering chin to speak with her. "Rose, I truly do not know what has gotten into you. This behavior is wildly inappropriate, you don't act like this. You don't fake someone's death, especially not someone apart of our family. Clearly this paper writing you've been doing is taking up too much of your time. Until further notice you are no longer allowed to work on it. Am i clear?" As she was finishing, Zoe stood back up and stared down at her.

Rose jumped up to defend herself, "But Zoe! Thats not fair!"

Zoe grabbed her arm spun her around swatted her behind once. "Little girl, you sit back down. You are in no position to be raising your voice at us."

"Waaaade. Please tell Zoe-"

"Nuh-uh don't you start with me now. You have broken our trust with you." At this Rose started to have tears fall down her cheeks. "You have lied repeatedly to us and your teachers- including faking the death of Candace, the attitude. And when we tell you to be home at a certain time, you better be home. You had me worried sick, Rose! Anything could have happened to you. Do you not understand how much we love you?"

Rose was crying steadily when Wade finished talking. " I'm sooorrry. Please, I'm sorrrrrry."

"I know baby, i know. But you also know all of this worries us, Not just you coming home two hours late."

"i am sorry..."

"We know."

"Come here Rosie, please."

"Zoey, I'm sorry! Im sorry! please don't hate me about what i said about Candace!"

Zoe hugged the girl to her. "Rosie, listen to me, I could never hate you. But there are going to be some consequences. You are to come home or go to the Rammer Jammer after school, we will let you know every morning. You will do all those homework assignments and school projects and pass them, even if you won't get credit. And i want you to apologize to your science teacher when you pass that project in. I don't care if she fails you. But you are doing the right thing here, understand?"

"Yes ma'am, " Rose replied meekly.

Zoe took a big breath in and tried to let the tension roll off her. She didn't want to keep sounding so angry. "Rose, its time for you to start getting ready for bed. I will be back in about 20 minutes or so. "

"But its not even 7..."

Wade grabbed the bride of his nose and closed his eyes. "I hope that isn't sass little girl. We told you to get ready for bed then Zoe will be in. I wouldn't care if it was only 3:30 pm. Now it's time to get ready for bed. If i have to repeat myself, you will not like what happens. Are we clear?"

"Yes sir."

"Now go brush your teeth, I will be back in soon."

After leaving Rose to get ready for bed, at what the girl thought was unfair and too early although it was 6:55pm, Wade and Zoe went back downstairs to the kitchen to decompress.

"God dang that girl, Zoe. I love her but my hair is going to fall out. She had me so worried this afternoon. I had no idea where she was or if she was even okay. I know this is Bluebell, but things can happen. i don't know what i would do if something had happened!"

"I know Wade, I'm sorry i wasn't here when it happened, I guess this is how it's going to be for the rest of our lives. Always worrying about our kids."

"Are you saying we're having a baby?!"

"No, Wade! Do you really think i would tell you if i was pregnant like this? No siree! I was talking about future kids with you."

"Right Doc, my bad. Go talk to our little troublemaker."

Zoe finally went back upstairs. She peeked in the door to look at Rose before entering. Rose was lying on her back under the covers with her arms crossed staring at the ceiling. She could see tears silently streaming down the girls face.

Zoe walked into the room and went to sit on the bed next to Rose.

" This isn't fair Zoe, its only 730 and i have been in bed for a half hour already!"

Zoe raised her eyebrow and cleared her throat before replying. "Really Rose, after the stunts the past few weeks, you think being in bed this early is unfair? Would you like me to get Wade back up here and we can talk about an immediate alternative then you can go to bed after that?"

Rose knew what that "immediate alternative" meant, and she did not want that. "Zoeeeee..."

"Okay, then knock off the attitude. You know your attitude gets you more spanks than your actual misbehavior right? You really need to learn to think before you speak, Rosie." Zoe said not unkindly, wiping some of the tears off Rose's face.

"I'll try."

"And you might want to talk to Wade, he nearly had a panic attack about you coming home 2 hours late. He thought you were hurt somewhere and couldn't protect you. You know how much we love you and how devastated we would be if something did happen to you right? We just love you so much sweetie."

"Okay Zo, I will talk to him soon."

"Well i think you should try to sleep. I really want you to lay here and think about how you can make better choices and think of ways to gain our trust back. Goodnight sweetie, i love you."

"I love you too" Rose whispered back, starting to cry again but because she felt guilty this time, her actions finally catching up to her.

About an hour later, Wade came into Rose's bedroom to see if she was awake or not and saw that she was feigning sleep. He quietly went over to her bed and kissed on her the forehead "I love you girlie, don't keep trying to give me a heart attack. I don't know if i could go on if something bad happened to you. Night sweetheart."

As he was turning away, a little hand grabbed his arm.

"I'm really really sorry Wade."

"I know sweetie, go to sleep now. Love you"

"I love you too, Wade"


End file.
